JPH0342096B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an ultrasonic Doppler probe for measuring the flow velocity of blood in a blood vessel using the ultrasonic Doppler method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Currently, ultrasonic diagnostic devices are widespread and used for various medical diagnoses. Among these, ultrasonic Doppler probes have come to be widely used in fields such as medicine. This ultrasonic Doppler probe must be small because it is directly applied to the subject's body to measure blood flow velocity and other information within blood vessels. Such a conventional ultrasonic Doppler probe is basically constructed as shown in FIG. Case 1
01 is formed into a cylindrical shape. On the other hand, the transducer section 102 has disk-shaped and ring-shaped bottom electrodes 104a and 104b on the bottom and top surfaces of a disk-shaped piezoelectric vibrator 103a located inside and a ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator 103b located outside, respectively. and disk-shaped and ring-shaped upper surface electrodes 105a, 105b.
is provided. Lower surface electrodes 104a, 104b
Disc-shaped and ring-shaped acoustic matching layers 106a and 106b are provided on the lower surface of the upper surface electrode 105.
A backside load material 107 is provided on the upper surface of a and 105b. An element pedestal 108 is provided on the upper surface of the back load material 107. Lower surface electrode 104a,
Lead wires 109a, 109b are connected to 104b and upper surface electrodes 105a, 105b. This transducer section 102 is connected to the case 101.
is inserted into the case 1 from the base side opening 110.
01 tip surface 111 and acoustic matching layer 106
a, 106b are held flush and the gap between the inner circumferential surface of the case 101 and the outer circumferential surface of the transducer section 102 is maintained uniformly.
2 inserts the case 10 into the gap from the opening 110.
The transducer portion 102 is fixed to the case 101. An acoustic lens 113 is bonded to cover the fluid hardening agent 112 and the acoustic matching layers 106a and 106b of the transducer section 102.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above configuration, the axial position of the transducer section 102 with respect to the case 101 and the uniformity of the outer circumferential surface of the transducer section 102 and the inner circumferential surface of the case 101 are not uniform. Securing the clearance, that is, maintaining the radial position accurately, is troublesome.
Not only is it time consuming, but it is also less accurate. Furthermore, since the adhesive part of the acoustic lens is exposed outside the case, there is a problem that it easily peels off from the edge.

Therefore, the present invention can be achieved without increasing the overall size.
An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic Doppler probe in which a transducer part can be easily, quickly and accurately fixed to a case, and an acoustic lens can be held in a securely fixed state. It is.

Means for Solving the Problems Technical means of the present invention for solving the above problems include a cylindrical case, a positioning protrusion provided inside the middle part of the case, and a piezoelectric element. , a bottom electrode and a top electrode provided on the bottom and top surfaces of this piezoelectric element, an acoustic matching layer provided on the bottom surface of the bottom electrode, a back load material provided on the top surface of the top electrode, and a top surface electrode provided on the top surface of this back load material. a transistor pedestal, a lead wire connected to the lower electrode and the upper electrode, which is inserted into the case, and the element pedestal is brought into contact with the positioning protrusion, a lens portion and a cylindrical The cylindrical part is fitted to the outside of the transducer part from the acoustic matching layer side, and the acoustic lens is fitted to the inside of the case, and a fluid tube to fix the transducer part to the case. and a hardening agent.

Effects With the above configuration, the present invention performs axial positioning by bringing the element pedestal of the transducer part into contact with the positioning protrusion of the case, and the cylindrical shape of the acoustic lens fitted on the outside of the transducer part. positioning in the radial direction by fitting the part inside the case,
The transducer section and the acoustic lens can be easily and reliably held against the case, and the fixing work can be carried out efficiently. The acoustic lens fixed in this way is at a constant distance from the front end of the case. In other words, the height between the apex of the acoustic lens and the distal end surface of the case is constant, and the axes of the transducer section and the acoustic lens are approximately aligned with the axis of the case, so that the acoustic lens etc. can be accurately positioned relative to the case. can be located. Furthermore, by fitting the cylindrical portion of the acoustic lens inside the case, it is possible to prevent the portion fixed to the transducer portion from being exposed to the outside.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair of positioning protrusions 2 are integrally provided inside the middle part of a cylindrical case 1, and the axis of the case 1 is connected to the bottom of these positioning protrusions 2. A perpendicular positioning surface 3 is formed, and this positioning surface 3 is formed parallel to the distal end surface 4 of the case 1. On the other hand, the transducer section 5 is made of piezoelectric ceramic, and has a disk-shaped piezoelectric vibrator 6a located inside and a ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator 6b located outside. Lower surface electrodes 7a, 7b and disk-shaped and ring-shaped upper surface electrodes 8a, 8b are provided. Acoustic matching layers 9a, 9b made of synthetic resin, glass, etc. and formed in multiple layers in the shape of a disc and a ring are adhered to the lower surfaces of the lower electrodes 7a, 7b. A back load material 10 made of special rubber is bonded to the top surface of the top electrodes 8a, 8b, and an element pedestal 11 is bonded to the top surface of this back load material 10. Lower surface electrodes 7a, 7b and upper surface electrode 8
Lead wires 12a and 12b are connected to a and 8b. The acoustic lens 13 is made of a silicone rubber material, and a cylindrical portion 15 is integrally provided with a lens portion 14 . The cylindrical portion 15 of the acoustic lens 13 is fitted and bonded to the outside of the transducer portion 5 from the acoustic matching layers 9a, 9b side.

The transducer section 5 is inserted from the tip side of the case 1, and the element pedestal 11 is brought into contact with the positioning surface 3 of the positioning protrusion 2 to be positioned in the axial direction. 15 is fitted inside the tip of the case 1 and positioned in the radial direction. With the transducer section 5 and the acoustic lens 13 positioned and held relative to the case 1, the base opening 1 of the case is opened.
A fluid hardening agent 17 is poured into the case 6, and the transducer section 5 and the acoustic lens 13 are fixed to the case 1.

The transducer unit 5 equipped with the piezoelectric vibrators 6a and 6b receives a signal from an external device, transmits it as an ultrasonic beam from the acoustic lens 13, and transmits the reflected ultrasonic beam to the acoustic lens 13. can be received through and sent to external devices.

According to the above embodiment, the element pedestal 11 of the transducer section 5 is brought into contact with the positioning surface 3 of the positioning protrusion 2 of the case 1 for axial positioning, and The cylindrical portion 15 of the fitted acoustic lens 13 is fitted inside the case 1 to uniformly position the gap between the outer periphery of the transducer portion 5 and the inner periphery of the case 1, that is, to perform radial positioning. It can be carried out. In this way, the transducer section 5 and the acoustic lens 13 can be easily and reliably positioned with respect to the case 1, and can be efficiently fixed using the fluid hardening agent. Furthermore, by being fixed in this manner, the height L from the distal end surface 4 of the case 1 to the apex of the acoustic lens 13 is always constant, and the axes of the transducer section 5 and the acoustic lens 13 are aligned with the axis of the case 1. The acoustic lens 13 and the like can be accurately positioned with respect to the case 1 by almost matching the center. In addition, the cylindrical portion 15 of the acoustic lens 13 is attached to the case 1.
It is possible to prevent the adhesive part with the transducer part 5 from being exposed to the outside by fitting inside the transducer part 5.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various design changes can be made without departing from the basic technical idea.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a positioning protrusion is provided inside the middle part of a cylindrical case, and an element of a transducer section inserted into the case is inserted into the positioning protrusion. The pedestal is brought into contact with the pedestal, the cylindrical part of the acoustic lens fitted on the outside of the transducer part is fitted inside the case, and the transducer part is fixed to the case with a fluid hardening agent. In this way, the axial direction of the transducer part is positioned by the positioning protrusion, and the gap between the outer periphery of the transducer part and the inner periphery of the case, that is, the radial direction, is positioned by the cylindrical part of the acoustic lens. Therefore, there is no need to use a complicated structure, and the overall shape does not become large.
The transducer section and the acoustic lens can be easily and reliably positioned, and the fixing work can be performed efficiently. In addition, as mentioned above, the transducer section and acoustic lens are positioned and fixed in both the axial and radial directions with respect to the case, so the height between the apex of the acoustic lens and the tip of the case is always constant. In addition, the acoustic lens and the like can be accurately positioned with respect to the case, and accuracy can be improved. In addition, since the cylindrical part of the acoustic lens is fitted inside the case, the fixing part between the acoustic lens and the transducer part can be prevented from being exposed to the outside, and the acoustic lens can be prevented from peeling off. be able to.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the ultrasonic Doppler probe of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a case used in the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional ultrasonic Doppler probe. It is a diagram. 1... Case, 2... Positioning protrusion, 5...
...Transducer section, 6a, 6b...Piezoelectric vibrator, 7a, 7b...Bottom electrode, 8a, 8b...Top electrode, 9a, 9b...Acoustic matching layer, 10
... Back load material, 11 ... Element pedestal, 12a, 1
2b... Lead wire, 13... Acoustic lens, 17...
...Fluid hardener.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A cylindrical case, a positioning protrusion provided inside the middle part of this case, a piezoelectric element, a lower surface electrode provided on the lower surface and upper surface of this piezoelectric element, an upper surface electrode, and a lower surface electrode provided on the lower surface of the piezoelectric element. It consists of an acoustic matching layer, a back load material provided on the top surface of the top electrode, an element pedestal provided on the top surface of the back load material, and lead wires connected to the bottom electrode and the top electrode, and is inserted into the case. , consisting of a transducer part with an element pedestal in contact with the positioning protrusion, a lens part, and a cylindrical part, and the cylindrical part is fitted to the outside of the transducer part from the acoustic matching layer side. An ultrasonic Doppler probe comprising: an acoustic lens fitted inside the case; and a fluid hardening agent for fixing the transducer section to the case.